OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. ] 75
Secondly, To complete this communion on the part of Christ, it is required, —
(1.) That there be added to what he hath done, the go^spel tenders of that complete righteousness and acceptation with God which ariseth from his perfect obedience and sufferings. Now, they are twofold: —
[1.] Declaratory, in the conditional promises of the gospel. Mark xvi. 15; Matt. xi. 28, " He that believeth shall be saved;" " Come unto me, and I will give you rest;" " As Moses lifted up the serpent," etc. ; " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 4; and innumerable others. Now, declaratory tenders are very precious, there is much kindness in them, and if they be rejected, they will be the " savour of death unto death;" but the Lord Christ knows that the outward letter, though never so effectu- ally held out, will not enable any of his for that reception of his right- eousness which is necessary to interest them therein ; wherefore, —
[2.] In this tender of acceptation with God, on the account of what he hath done and suffered, a law is established, that whosoever receives it shall be so accepted. But Christ knows the condition and state of his in this world. This will not do ; if he do not effectually invest them with it, all is lost. Therefore, —
(2.) He sends them his Holy Spirit, to quicken them, John vi. 63, — to cause them that are " dead to hear his voice," John v. 25; and to work in them whatever is required of them, to make them partakers of his righteousness and accepted with God.
Thus doth Christ deal with his : — he lives and dies with an inten- tion to work out and complete righteousness for them; their enjoying of it, to a perfect acceptation before God, is all that in the one and other he aimed at. Then he tenders it unto them, declares the use- fulness and preciousness of it to their souls, stirring them up to a desire and valuation of it; and lastly, effectually bestows it upon them, reckons it unto them as theirs, that they should by it, for it, with it, be perfectly accepted with his Father.
Thus, for our acceptation with God, two things are required : —
First, That satisfaction he made for our disobedience, — for what- ever we had done which might damage the justice and honour of God ; and that God be atoned towards us: which could no otherwise be, but by undergoing the penalty of the law. This, I have showed abun- dantly, is done by the death of Christ. God " made him to be sin for us," 2 Cor. V. 21, — a " curse," Gal. iii. 13. On this account we have our absolution, — our acquitment fi'om the guilt of sin, the sentence of the law, the wrath of God, Rom. viii. 33, 34. We are justified, acquitted, freed from condemnation, because it was Christ that died; " he bare our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. ii. 24.
Second, That the righteousness of the law be fulfilled, and the
176 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
obedience performed tliat is required at our liauds. And this is done by the life of Christ, Rom. v. 18, 19. So that answerably hereunto, according tg our state and the condition of our acceptation with God, there are two parts: —
Our absolution from the guilt of sin, that our disobedience be not charged upon us. This we have by the death of Christ ; our sins being imputed to him, shall not be imputed to us, 2 Cor, v. 21; Rom. iv. 25; Isa. liii. 12.
Imputation of righteousness, that we may be accounted per- fectly righteous before God ; and this we have by the life of Christ. His righteousness in yielding obedience to the law is imputed to us. And thus is our acceptation with God completed. Being discharged from the guilt of our disobedience by the death of Christ, and having the righteousness of the life of Christ imputed to us, we have friend- ship and peace with God. And this is that which I call our gi-ace of acceptation with God, wherein we have communion with Jesus Christ.
That which remains for me to do, is to show how believers hold distinct communion with Christ in this grace of acceptation, and how thereby they keep alive a sense of it, — the comfort and life of it being to be renewed every day. Without this, life is a hell ; no peace, no joy can we be made partakers of, but what hath its rise from hence. Look what grounded persuasion we have of our acceptation with God, that he is at peace with us; thereunto is the revenue of our peace, comfort, joy, yea, and holiness itself, proportioned.
But yet, before I come in particular to handle our practical com- munion with the Lord Jesus in this thing, I must remove two con- siderable objections; — the one of them lying against the first part of our acceptation with God, the other against the latter.
Ohjection 1. For our absolution by and upon the death of Christ, it may be said, that " if the elect have their absolution, reconciliation, and freedom by the death, blood, and cross of Christ, whence is it, then, that they were not all actually absolved at the death of Chri.st, or at least so soon as they are born, but that many of them live a long while under the wrath of God in this world, as being unbelievers, under the sentence and condemning power of the law? John iii. 36. Why are they not immediately freed, upon the payment of the price and making reconciliation for them?"